4   Salary

(1)  For the purposes of this Act, salary, in relation to an employee (other than an executive officer) means the sum of:

(a)  the remuneration, salary or wages payable in money to the employee in the employee’s capacity as an employee, as reported to STC from time to time by the employee’s employer, including:

(i)  a loading in respect of any shift allowance, as determined in accordance with the regulations, and

(ii)  other allowances payable in money that are of a kind included within the value of leave paid on termination of employment, and

(iii)  weekly workers compensation paid to the employee as from a date determined by STC under subsection (1B),

      but not including the excluded amounts or allowances referred to in subsection (2), and

(b)  if approved employment benefits are provided to the employee, the cost of providing the approved employment benefits, as determined by the Minister, with the concurrence of the Treasurer.

(1A)  The weekly workers compensation to be treated as salary for the purposes of this Act does not include any amount by which the aggregate of:

(a)  the weekly workers compensation paid to an injured employee, and

(b)  the salary actually paid to the employee while partially incapacitated,

      exceeds the salary that the employee would probably have been earning but for the injury (assuming the employee had continued to be employed in the same or some comparable employment).

(1B)  STC may determine a date as from which weekly workers compensation paid to an employee is to be treated as salary for the purposes of this Act, being a date not earlier than:

(a)  1 April 1988 (the date of commencement of this Act), or

(b)  if the liability to pay weekly workers compensation in respect of the employee first arose on a date later than 1 April 1988—that later date.

(2)  The excluded amounts or allowances are:

(a)  an amount paid for overtime or as a bonus, or an allowance instead of overtime,

(b)  except to the extent determined in accordance with the regulations, as referred to in subsection (1) (a)—an amount paid as shift allowance,

(c)  except to the extent that this section otherwise provides—a relieving allowance,

(d)  an expense allowance or an allowance for travelling, subsistence or other expenses,

(e)  an equipment allowance,

(f)  an amount paid for rent or as a residence, housing or quarters allowance, and

(g)  an amount of weekly workers compensation excluded by subsection (1A).

(3)  If an employee’s employer, or a person authorised to do so on behalf of the employer, certifies in writing to STC that a relieving allowance to be, or being, paid to the employee in the employee’s capacity as an employee is likely to be paid for a continuous period of 1 year (whether or not the period is partly before the date of the certificate), the allowance is, as from:

(a)  the date on which the certificate is lodged with STC, or

(b)  the date from which the allowance becomes payable,

      whichever is the later, salary for the purposes of this Act.

(4)  If a relieving allowance has been paid to an employee in the employee’s capacity as an employee for a continuous period of 1 year that ends after the appointed day and, during that period, the allowance has not been treated as part of the employee’s salary in accordance with subsection (3), the allowance shall, as from the expiration of that period of 1 year, be treated as part of the employee’s salary while its payment to the employee continues.

(4A)  For the purposes of subsection (4), a reference to a continuous period of 1 year in relation to a contributor who is employed in an educational institution is to be read as a reference to the academic year of the institution.

(5)  If an employee is on secondment to another employer, the salary of the employee for the purposes of this Act is the salary paid or payable to the employee by the other employer.

(6)  The Governor may, by order in writing, declare unconditionally, or subject to conditions, that subsection (7) applies:

(a)  to an employee specified in the order who is on secondment but not to another employer, and

(b)  generally during the period of that secondment, or during such period as is specified in the order, being, in either case, a period commencing before, on or after the date of the order.

(7)  During the period in which this subsection is declared pursuant to subsection (6) to apply to an employee on secondment, the employee’s salary shall, for the purposes of this Act, be that paid or payable in respect of the employment to which he or she is seconded.

(8)  In this section:

academic year, in relation to an educational institution, means a continuous period commencing on the first day of any academic term of the institution and ending on the day before the first day of the corresponding academic term in the following calendar year.

approved employment benefit means a benefit provided to an employee at the cost of the employee’s employer (being a benefit of a private nature) that is approved by the Minister, with the concurrence of the Treasurer, for the purposes of this section in relation to the employee or a class of employees of which the employee is a member.

shift allowance means an allowance paid to an employee in respect of shift work performed by the employee, and includes amounts paid as penalty rates.

weekly workers compensation, in relation to an employee, means weekly payments of compensation under the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (or the provisions of the Workers Compensation Act 1926 as applied by that Act) payable to the employee because the employee is partially incapacitated for work through injury.